Pregnant soccer star Alex Morgan may be forced to change her birthing plans because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The World Cup champ, who's expecting a baby girl in just a few weeks with hubby Servando Carrasco, had counted on Carrasco being by her side when she welcomes their first child. But after hearing that many hospitals are now blocking partners in the delivery room to avoid unwittingly spreading the virus, that may change.
“That definitely scared me,” Morgan, 30, told Glamour magazine. “I wouldn’t feel comfortable delivering without my husband or my doula, but especially my husband."
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The U.S. women’s national soccer team co-captain intended to have a natural birth at the hospital.
“I should be able to give birth without numbing my body,” she shared. “I’ve gone through a lot of major sports injuries and endured a lot of pain, but nothing is going to be like childbirth. I feel like if I don’t experience that, then I’ll never really know what I can do, what I’m capable of.”
But now she's considering switching to a home birth so she and Carrasco can welcome their little girl together.
“That has been a big discussion with my husband, with my mom, with my team of care — what do I do?” she said. “I would love to give birth at home and have such an intense but beautiful moment of life there.”
When Morgan announced she was pregnant last October, she did so knowing she'd be zipping off to compete in the Tokyo Olympics less than three months after giving birth. But the coronavirus has forced organizers to postpone the summer games until 2021.
The athlete, who kept up with her regular training schedule — six days a week of intense on-the-field sessions, weight training, spin classes and runs — until she was seven months pregnant, was less upset about that change in plans.
“I tried to look at it more from a team perspective, but I couldn’t help but think of myself with all of the stress that’s going on from the coronavirus on top of trying to get back in shape in such a short amount of time,” she said.
Now, as her due date inches closer, Morgan is even more grateful she has a full year before she'll be competing for her second gold medal.
"There are a hundred things that have been going through my mind,” she shared. “Now I have more time to deal, and I’ll have more time with my daughter without the endless questions.
“I can figure it out with a little more calm and a little more clarity. I have to look to the positives," she added.